THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


C378 

UK3 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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The  Ante-Bellum  University. 


CITATION 


Delivered  at  the  Celebration  of  the 


CENTENNIAL 


-OF  THE- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 
June  5th,   1895, 


By  Hon.  ALFRED  M.  WADDELL. 


WILMINGTON.  N.    C.  : 

Jackson  &  Bell,  Printers  and  Binders. 

]  s95. 


>^ 


ORATION. 


Ladies  and  Oentlemen  : 

On  the  Western  horizon  of  our  State,  like  some  vast  slumber- 
ing Titan,  looms  above  the  rolling  wilderness  of  lofty  peaks  the 
great  form  of  Grandfather  Mountain.  From  its  balsam-clad 
breast  ripple  countless  rills  of  pure  water,  and  from  the  dense 
laurel  at  its  base  rushes  a  crystal  stream,  which — wrestling  with 
gnlrled  tree-trunks,  and  granite  boulders,  and  leaping  preci- 
pices, and  bursting  through  rocky  barriers — falls  among  the 
foot-hills,  and,  gathering  volume  in  its  course  through  fertile 
valleys,  sweeps,  a  mighty  river,  to  the  sea. 

Projected  in  grand  proportions  upon  the  morning  horizon  of 
our  history  are  the  forms  of  the  great  and  good  men,  from 
whose  lofty  minds  and  pure  hearts  flowed  the  educational 
influences  which,  gathering  force  and  conquering  all  obstacles, 
swelled  into  the  great  stream  of  this  University,  which  bears 
those  who  embark  upon  it  to  another  boundless  sea.  How  can 
we  pay  them  adequate  tribute  ? 

Was  not  the  ancestor-worship  of  the  Hindus  the  expression 
of  an  elevated  type  of  natural  religion  ?  It,  at  least,  approxi- 
mated the  truth  in  that  it  deified  virtue  according  to  their  con- 
ception of  virtue,  and  was  therefore  essentially  honorable  and 
uplifting. 

It  would  improve  the  religion  of  some  people  who  live  in  the 
light  of  Christian  civilization  if  they  would  adopt  the  Hindu 
practice,  to  the  extent  of  cherishing  with  pride  and  reverence  the 
memory  of  their  forefathers,  and  striving  to  emulate  their  virtues 
It  might,  at  least,  secure  for  themselves  the  same  tribute  from 


■  '■  f  *•  f^. 


their  descendants,  and  thus  save  them  from  obHvion,  from  which 
probably  no  man  who  ever  Hved  did  not,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, hope  to  escape. 

However  this  may  be,  I  confess  my  cordial  sympathy  with  the 
sentiment  underlying  the  Hindu  worship,  as  being  one  of  genuine 
piety,  however  misdirected  ;  and  I  am  sure  you  will  as  cordially 
sympathize  with  me  in  the  attempt  which  I  shall  make  to  illus- 
trate it  to  day  by  presenting  for  your  contemplation  the  services 
of  our  forefathers,  who  established  and  maintained,  through 
countless  vicissitudes,  this  venerable  institution.  I  say  "  the 
attempt "  in  all  sincerity,  for  colossal  would  be  the  egotism, 
immeasurable  the  self-esteem,  which  could  accept  this  duty 
expecting  to  fully  meet  all  its  requirements. 

The  truth  is — and  it  is  my  only  claim  to  your  indulgence — 
that  the  President  of  the  University,  recognizing  the  fact  that 
unselfish  love  is  the  most  potent  principle  of  human  action — that 
it  is  blind  to  all  obstacles  and  never  calculates — and  knowmg 
that  my  love  for  the  University  was  inherited  through  three 
generations  from  the  time  of  its  foundation,  and  was  intensified 
by  the  happy  years  which  I  myself  passed  within  its  walls — con- 
fidently, tempted  me  with  an  invitation  to  risk  this  service,  and  — 
succeeded,  as  he  always  does  in  everything  he  undertakes. 

And  yet,  the  story  to  be  told  needs  no  gloss  of  rhetoric,  or 
embellishment  of  imagination,  to  make  it  attractive  to  enlightened 
men  Its  simple  facts  are  its  truest  eloquence,  and  its  strongest 
lesson.  This  story  began  one  hundred  and  nineteen  years  ago, 
and  its  very  first  incident  was  noble  and  pathetic. 

The  people  of  North  Carolina,  numbering  about  a  quarter  of 
a  million  white  persons,  who  were  scattered  from  the  Atlantic 
coast  to  the  base  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  after  declaring  thtir  inde- 
pendence of  the  mother  country,  prepared  to  frame  a  govern- 
ment for  themselves  and  their  posterity.  They  were  poor  in 
everything  except  intelligence,  courage,  and  patriotism — they 
were  in  the  first  throes  of  an  unequal  struggle  for  liberty  with 
the  greatest  power  on  earth — the  continental  army  had  recently 
been  defeated  on  Long  Island,  and  New  York  had  been  cap- 
tured— they  had  no  army,  or  navy,  or  military  supplies — they 


were  divided  in  feeling  as  to  the  war,  as  well  as  in  their  local 
afifairs,  by  those  sectional  jealousies  which  have  not  even  to  this 
day  entirely  disappeared — they  were,  in  a  word,  wrestling  with 
adversity  of  almost  every  kind. 

But,  even  amidst  such  surrounding  gloom,  when  their  dele- 
gates met  at  the  little  village  of  Halifax  in  December,  1776,  and 
proceeded  to  frame  a  constitution  of  government,  they  inserted 
therein  these  words  : 

"  All  useful  learning  shall  be  duly  encouraged  and  promoted 
in  one  or  more  universities." 

There  is  a  profound  pathos  in  such  a  sentence,  written  at  such 
a  time,  and  under  such  circumstances.  That  provision  could 
have  been  entrusted  to  future  legislation  after  the  perils  of  war 
had  passed  and  peace  had  come  again  to  the  country,  and  men 
of  ordinary  character  and  capacity  would,  most  probably,  have 
so  reasoned  ;  but  they  were  not  ordinary  men,  and,  appreciating 
most  fully  the  inestimable  importance  of  education  as  the  chief 
basis  of  free  institutions,  they  incorporated  this  command  into 
the  fundamental  law.  The  dreadful  exigencies  of  war  delayed 
the  execution  of  this  wise  and  noble  design  for  some  years,  but 
it  was  not  forgotten,  and  in  1789  the  charter  of  the  University 
was  granted,  and  forty  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  State  were 
appointed  Trustees.  It  is  doubtful,  to  say  the  least,  if  any  other 
institution  of  learning  in  America  ever  had  such  a  distinguished 
Board,  and  certainly  none  of  that  period  had,  for  it  embraced 
the  names  of  men  who  were  United  States  Senators,  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  District 
Courts  of  the  United  States,  Governors  of  the  State,  members  of 
Congress,  Judges  of  the  State  Courts,  and  men  prominent  in 
every  profession  and  business. 

These  Trustees  met  for  organization -on  the  i8th  of  December, 
1789,  and  subscriptions  were  received,  the  two  largest  of  which 
were  made  by  William  Cain  of  Orange,  and  Alfred  Moore,  of 
Brunswick.  In  November,  1792,  the  same  year  in  which  the 
capitol  of  the  State  was  located,  the  site  of  the  University  was 
selected.  On  the  12th  of  October,  1793,  the  corner-stone  of  the 
first  building— the  "  Old  East  " — was  laid  in  the  presence  of  the 


6 

Governor  of  the  State  and  many  distinguished  citizens  by  Gen, 
Wm.  R.  Davie,  Grand  Master  of  Masons,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  as  a  Revolutionary  officer,  and  was  afterwards  Governor 
of  the  State  and  United  States  Minister  to  France,  and  who 
because  of  his  numerous  and  valuable  services  in  establishing  it, 
was,  by  the  Trustees  themselves,  named  "  father  of  the  Univer- 
sity." At  the  same  time  an  admirable  address  was  delivered  by 
Dr.  McCorkle,  an  eminent  educator.  The  I2th  of  October  is 
now  observed  as  "  University  Day." 

On  the  15th  day  of  January,  1795,  the  doors  were  opened, 
but  there  was  only  one  Professor  and  not  one  student  present. 
The  season  was  a  very  severe  one,  the  roads  were  in  terrible 
condition,  the  means  of  transportation  were  very  limited  and  of 
the  most  primitive  kind,  and,  consequently,  the  arrival  of  students 
was  very  slow.  Hinton  James  of  Wilmington,  the  first  student, 
arrived  about  three  weeks  after  the  opening,  and  a  few  days  later 
came  three  more  Cape  Fear  boys,  Alfred  Moore,  Jr.,  Maurice 
Moore  and  Richard  Eagles,  and  at  the  same  time  Hutchings  G. 
Burton  and  Robert  Burton  of  Halifax,  and  John  Taylor  of 
Orange.  Thus  the  li%  of  the  University  began,  but  in  the  next 
year  there  were  one  hundred  students. 

I  will  not  dwell  on  the  circumstances  attending  these  different 
events,  because  they  have  been  fully  portrayed  by  the  more  skill- 
ful hand  of  the  distinguished  Professor  of  History  of  the  Univer- 
sity ;  and,  for  the  same  reason,  I  will  not  attempt  to  give 
biographical  sketches  of  the  founders,  but  will  content  myself  by 
the  general  statement  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
exaggerate  their  claim  to  our  reverence. 

There  has  been  much  misrepresentation  in  regard  to  the 
educational  status  in  North  Carolina  before  the  beginning  of 
this  century.  It  has  been  asserted  in  some  histories,  written  by 
New  England  men,  that  there  was  a  total  absence  of  all  educa- 
tional facilities  in  the  State  at  that  time.  This  is  far  from  the 
truth.  The  means  of  education,  and  particularly  of  classical  edu- 
cation, were  slender  enough  at  that  time,  but  they  were  not  half  so 
meagre  as  represented.  This  will  appear  from  the  Colonial 
Records,  and  from  various  historical  essays  written  in  late  years 


Y^, 


by  our  own  people.  Instead  of  there  being  no  good  schools 
before  the  Revolution,  as.  stated  in  the  histories  referred  to, 
"  there  were  many  creditable  institutions,  several  having  a  wide 
reputation,"  says  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion, who  obtained  his  knowledge  from  Charles  Lee  Smith's 
History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina.  And  the  records  also 
show  that  from  the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  the  beginning  of 
the  century  there  were- -besides  the  private  schools — more  than 
twenty  incorporated  schools  and  academies. 

At  that  time,  however,  the  University  was  the  only  institution 
of  higher  learning  in  the  State,  and  its  establishment  unques- 
tionably gave  a  tremendous  impulse  to  educational  advancement 
^vA  among  the  people.  So  rapid,  indeed,  was  this  growth  that — as 
was  stated  in  1821  in  the  North  American  lievtew — "  in  the  year 
18 16  the  number  of  students  at  Academies  within  the  compass 
of  forty  miles  amounted  to  more  than  one  thousand."  It  is  an 
error,  therefore,  to  describe  the  educational  condition  of  our 
people  in  the  early  days  as  destitute,  although  it  is  quite  as  cor- 
rect as  many  other  statements  in  regard  to  our  early  history, 
coming  from  the  same  sources. 

The  plan  of  instruction  first  recommended  by  a  very  dis- 
tinguished committee  of  the  Trustees,  and  adopted  for  some 
years  was,  as  Dr.  Battle  has  pointed  out,  remarkable  for  the  great 
prominence  of  scientific  studies  and  those  of  a  practical  nature. 
"  The  scheme,"  he  says,  "  is  almost  identical  with  that  adopted 
by  Congress  for  the  colleges  to  be  formed  under  what  is  knowrt 
as  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  Land  Grant  Act  of 
1862.  Not  many  years  elapsed,  however,  before  classical  studies 
were  given  the  prominence  usual  in  the  colleges  of  the  day." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  University  there  seemed  to  be  among 
the  Trustees  a  strong  aversion  to  conferring  upon  any  one  the 
title  of  President,  but  for  what  reason  does  not  appear  They 
elected,  from  seven  persons  whose  names  were  presented,  a 
"  presiding  professor  "  to  whom  they  gave  the  title  of  "  Profes- 
sor of  Humanity;"  and,  according  to  what  I  have  always 
regarded  as  characteristic  of  our  North  Carolina  civilization, 
they  chose  for  this  position  an  Irishman,  Rev.  David  Ker,  who 


8 

was  a  graduate  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  He  did  not  stay 
long,  of  course,  and  swapped  teaching  for  the  law,  and  Calvinism 
for  Voltarieism,  and  became  Jefferson's  Judge  for  the  District  of 
Mississippi,  where  he  died  in  1 8  lo.  The  only  other-  Professor  was 
Charles  W.  Harris,  of  Cabarrus,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  and  a 
man  of  very  great  promise,  who  afterwards  became  a  lawyer,  and 
died  at  an  early  age,  very  much  regretted. 

It  is,  perhaps,  worth  mentioning  that  the  place  where  he  died, 
Sneydsboro',  on  the  Pee  Dee,  in  Anson  county,  now  no  more, 
was  settled  by  a  brother  of  Honora  Sneyd,  the  lady  to  whom 
Maj.  Andre  was  engaged  to  be  married,  and  who  afterwards 
rharried  the  father  of  Maria  Edgeworth. 

To  Professor  Harris  the  University  was  indebted  for  its  first 
President,  Dr.  Caldwell,  who  had  been  his  classmate  at  Prince- 
ton, and  who  came  to  Chapel  Hill  upon  his  recommendation. 

With  Dr.  Caldwell's  arrival  the  real  life  of  the  University  com- 
menced. He  has  been  justly  pronounced  "an  extraordinary 
man."  He  was  not  only  a  scholar,  but  a  man  of  action,  strong, 
energetic,  kindly  but  stern  in  discipline,  a  gentleman  and  a 
Christian. 

He  bore  the  burden  of  the  University  for  thirty  years  through 
trials  which  would  have  utterly  discouraged  any  ordinary  man, 
and  finally  placed  it  in  the  forefront  of  Southern  institutions  of 
learning.  He  was,  as  his  career  in  North  Carolina  amply 
proved,  a  man  of  broad  views  in  regard  to  all  matters  of  public 
interest,  and  it  was,  doubtless,  largely  due  to  his  influence,  as 
well  as  to  that  of  his  associate  trustees  and  faculty,  that  the 
capacity  for  dealing  with  questions  affecting  the  public  welfare 
which  characterized  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  earlier  alumni 
was  developed.  Perhaps  no  man  has  ever  lived  in  the  State  who 
was  a  more  zealous  and  enthusiastic  advocate  of  a  public  school 
system,  or  a  more  efficient  one  in  proportion  to  the  instrumen- 
talities then  available,  than  he.  He  was  the  father  of  the  move- 
ment for  an  east  and  west  trunk-line  railroad  to  connect  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  of  the  State  with  the  transmontane  country, 
which,  if  it  had  been  effected  at  that  early  day,  would  have  been 
of  incalculable  benefit.     He  erected  here,  it  is  believed,  the  first 


9 

observatory  in  the  United  States,  and  certainly  the  first  con- 
nected with  a  college.  He  was,  indeed,  a  remarkable  man,  who 
merited  and  received  the  veneration  and  love  of  the  people,  and 
who  sent  out  from  these  halls  many  who  became  illustrious  — 
among  them  "a  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  members  of  the  Cabinet  and  Foreign  Ministers,  National 
and  State  Senators  and  Representatives,  Judges  of  the  highest 
Courts,  Governors,  Professors  in  colleges  and  eminent  teachers, 
great  divines — in  fact,  men  eminent  in  all  the  pursuits  of  life." 

Upon  his  death  in  1835,  the  Trustees,  to  the  great  astonish 
ment  of  many  persons,  chose,  as  his  successor,  the  just- retired 
Governor  of  the  State,  who,  although  only  thirty-four  years  old, 
had  been  successively  Solicitor,  Judge,  Governor,  a  member  of 
Assembly,  and  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1835.  The  Trustees,  wise  as  they  were,  builded  wiser  than  they 
knew.  They  rejected  the  names  of  very  distinguished  scholars 
which  were  presented  for  the  Presidency,  and  selected  in  their 
stead  one  who  had  no  claim  to  that  title,  but  who,  because  of  his 
personal  popularity,  his  manifested  executive  ability,  and  his 
thorough  State  pride,  would,  as  they  believed,  infuse  new  energy 
into  the  life  of  the  University.  They  were  not  mistaken,  as  the 
result  abundantly  testified  Governor  Swain's  administration  was 
a  marked  success  from  the  start.  Almost  contemporaneously 
with  his  inauguration  an  endowment  of  $150,000,  arising  from 
the  sale  of  escheated  lands  in  West  Tennessee  which  belonged  to 
the  University,  was  realized,  and  the  light  of  assured  prosperity 
which  now  beamed  upon  her  cheered  all  heiirts,  and  gave  an 
immediate  impulse  to  her  progress.  The  growth  was  steady, 
until  in  i857-'58  four  hundred  and  sixty-one  students  were  in 
attendance 

Governor  Swain  was  •'??«'  (/o^eris.  He  was  the  most  unpromis 
ing-looking  man,  perhaps,  in  the  State.  Tall,  large,  with  sloping 
shoulders,  and  joints  loosely  set  at  odd  angles,  with  a  long, 
dark  and  profoundly  melancholy  countenance,  and  a  most  pecu- 
liar throaty  intonation  of  voice,  it  is  not  surprising  that  his  per- 
sonal appearance  was  freely  commented  upon   by  students ;  and 


10 

the  sobriqibet  of  "  Old  Bunk,"  which  they  gave  him  in  honor  of 
his  native  county  of  Buncombe,  intensified  their  criticism. 

The  most  unique  and  original  observation  in  regard  to  his 
personal  appearance  that  I  remember  to  have  heard  was  made 
by  a  student  a  short  while  before  I  joined  college.  This  student, 
who  was  a  little  fuddled  with  wine,  and  not  very  accurate  in  his 
knowledge  of  Genesis,  said  "  Old  Bunk  reminds  me  of  chaos ; 
he  is  without  form' and  void." 

And  yet,  with  all  his  personal  disadvantages,  there  was  some- 
thing imposing  and  attractive  in  his  presence,  and  when  he  began 
to  pace  to  and  fro  in  the  lecture  room,  and  discuss  the  great  men 
and  the  great  questions  which  had  agitated  society,  he  clothed 
himself  and  his  subject  with  a  sort  of  fascination,  which  fixed  the 
attention  and  excited  the  admiration  of  his  hsarers.  He  was  a 
gentle  spirit,  with  a  kindly  humor,  and  an  innocent  vanity  in 
regard  to  some  things,  but  endowed  with  large  intellectual 
capacity,  a  wonderful  memory,  and,  last  but  not  least,  an  unerring 
tact.  He  possessed  as  extensive  and  accurate  a  knowledge  of 
the  history  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  as  any  man  of  his 
generation,  and  made  some  valuable  contributions  to  our  histori- 
cal literature  He  was  a  walking  encyclopaedia  of  information 
upon  the  genealogy  of  the  State. 

The  ante  bellum  University  reached  its  highest  development 
and  prosperity  under  the  administration  of  Governor  Swain,  and 
was  still  advancing  when  what  ignorant  or  underbred  people  call 
"  the  war  of  the  rebellion  "  occurred,  and  emptied  it  of  seven  of 
its  professors,  and  nearly  all  of  its  students.  It  had  at  that  time 
as  wide  an  area  of  patronage  as  any  institution  of  learning  in 
the  country.  In  a  circular  letter  to  its  patrons,  dated  September 
4th,  i860.  President  Swain  said  :  "  Half  the  States  of  the  Union 
are  represented  in  our  college.  We  have  students  from  about 
thirty  colleges  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  from  Vermont  to 
Texas,  and  are  thus  enabled  to  compare  ourselves  with  other 
institutions.  The  comparison  gives  us  much  reason  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  condition  of  things  among  us,  and,  we  may  add, 
that  at  no  previous  period  has  our  corps  of  instructors  been 


11 

more  efficient,  or  the   morals  and   scholarship  of  our  students 
more  encouraging." 

Alas !  soon  thereafter  came  the  storm  which  blasted  all  his 
hopes,  and  amid  the  wreck  and  ruin  which  it  wrought  he  himself 
ceased  from  his  labors,  and  fell  on  sleep. 

It  would  be  a  grateful  task,  if  my  hour  permitted,  to  give  a  pen- 
picture  of  the  associate  professors  of  Governor  Swain,  who  were 
personally  known  to  me  as  a  student.  I  cannot,  and  I  am  sure  no 
other  student  of  that  day  can,  think  of  them  except  with  reverent 
affection.  I  can  see  before  me  now  the  splendid  dome  in  which 
was  housed  the  brain  of  Dr.  Mitchell,  and  which,  among  all  the 
heads  I  ever  saw,  was  the  noblest  in  form  and  proportion  ;  and 
the  sturdy  frame,  the  quick  step  and  the  circular  glasses  behind 
which  beamed  the  kind  brown  eyes  of  Dr.  Phillips ;  and  the 
refined  and  dreamy  countenance  of  Dr.  Hubbard ;  and  the 
courtly  grace  of  Dr.  Wheat;  and  the  sensitive  diffidence  of 
Prof.  Fetter;  and  the  grave  and  gentle  manners  of  Prof.  Shipp 

I  have  gazed,  with  strange  emotions,  into  the  clear  pool  on  the 
shaggy  slope  of  our  highest  mountain,  into  which  on  that  June 
night  in  185^  Dr.  Mitchell  was  precipitated  to  his  death  ;  and  to 
me  the  rostrum  of  Gerrard  Hall  has  been  invested  with  a  sacred 
interest  since  that  venerable  servant  of  God,  Dr.  Phillips,  in 
1867,  even  in  the  act  of  prayer,  was  called  thence  to  his  reward. 
Like  these  two,  but  without  the  tragic  incidents  which  accom- 
panied their  taking  off,  all  the  other  professors  who  were  here  in 
my  day  have  also  passed  away. 

And  now,  let  us  for  a  little  while  examine  the  claims  of  the 
ante-bellum  University  as  a  factor  in  Southern  civilization  and, 
especially,  as  the  very  light  and  life,  the  very  head  and  heart  of 
North  Carolina. 

There  is  not  a  State  between  the  Potomac  and  the  Rio  Grande 
which  has  not  numbered  among  its  statesmen,  or  orators,  or 
eminent  lawyers,  or  divines,  or  soldiers,  or  leaders  of  thought 
and  action  in  other  spheres  of  life,  alumni  of  this  University- 
Take  the  catalogue  and  scrutinize  it,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
University  was  a  mirror  of  what  was  best  in  Southern  civilization. 


12 

There  is  no  distinguished  position  which  has  not  been  filled 
by  her  sons  in  the  Southern  and  Western  States.  Their  names 
alone  would  fill  a  volume,  and  every  one  of  them  always  bore  in 
affectionate  remembrance  his  Alma  Mater.  Why?  Not  merely 
because  of  the  sentiment  which  the  memory  of  his  early  associa- 
tions excited,  but  because  he  realized  that  the  training  received 
here  was  the  real  basis  of  his  success  in  life,  and  of  his  ability  to 
serve  his  country  and  his  fellowmen.  If  he  had  been  an  "  honor  " 
man  while  here  he  felt  that  he  had  received  a  training,  and 
acquired  a  scholarship  comparable  with  the  best  anywhere,  and 
upon  which  he  could  build,  if  he  would,  a  reputation  limited 
only  by  his  capacity.  He  may  not  have  been  an  "  honor"  man 
while  here — he  may  not  have  tried  to  be  -he  may  even  have 
neglected  his  studies,  and  sometimes  have  engaged  in  the  riots 
and  rebellions  which  occurred  ;  but  he  realized  that,  under  the 
self-government  which  always  prevailed  here,  even  these  riots 
and  rebellions,  like  the  Athenian  mobs,  produced  uien,  and  lead- 
ers. This  training  bred  that  spirit  of  manly  self-reliance  which 
confronts  and  conquers  all  opposing  forces  in  the  battle  of  life. 
And  this  is  the  e.xplanation  of  the  long  list  of  statesmen,  gen- 
erals, bishops,  judges  and  other  distinguished  characters  in  other 
States  whose  nanies  adorn  the  catalogue  (^f  the  Univer.«:ity,  and 
who  reflected  honor  upon  her  by  their  lives  nnd  public  services. 

The  influence  of  the  University  upon  the  welfare  of  the  people 
of  North  Carolina  cannot  be  overestimated.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say.  that  to  it,  directly  or  indirectly,  must  be  ascribed  what  has 
been  noblest,  most  glorious,  and  useful  in  our  history  for  the  past 
century. 

Search  the  catalogue  again,  and  behold  the  bright  array  ofi 
worthies  who  have  illustrated  our  annals.  Find,  if  you  can,  one 
sphere  of  honor,  or  usefulness  which  has  not  been  adorned  by 
her  sons.  In  church  and  State,  in  army  and  navy,  in  forum  and 
hospital,  in  laboratory  and  factory,  in  counting-room  and 
machine-shop,  on  farm  and  railway,  in  school,  and  college,  ancj 
university,  their  power  has  given  impulse  to  our  civilization. 

To  the  University  we  owe  in  very  large  measure  the  um/fcatioij^ 
of  our  State.     From  the  earliest  period  our  people  were  divide^ 


13 

by  sectional  jealousies.  Albemarle  was  against  Bath  ;  then 
Edenton  against  Newbern ;  then  Wake  Court  House  against 
Fayetteville  on  the  question  of  the  location  of  the  capital.  These 
were  disputes  between  Eastern  localities.  Then  came  the  great 
controversy  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  sections  of  the 
State,  which  raged  for  a  long  time.  But  meanwhile  young  men 
from  all  sections  were  coming  to  the  University,  and  the  common 
association  and  comradeship,  the  common  instruction 'received 
and  ambition  experienced  here,  and  the  intermarriages  resulting 
from  meeting  the  lovely  women  from  all  parts  of  the  State  who 
have  always  graced  the  commencements  by  their  presence, 
tended  powerfully  to  eliminate  all  sectional  feeling,  and  to  con- 
solidate and  weld  together  the  people  as  North  Carolinians, 
making  one  of  the  Quaker,  the  Scotch  Presbyterian,  the  Cape 
Fear  Episcopalian,  the  Methodist,  the  Baptist,  the  Dutch,  the 
Moravian,  and  all  others. 

The  inner  and  social  life  of  the  ante-bellum  University  was 
well  adapted  to  intensify  this  spiiit,  and  to  develop  those  charac- 
teristics to  which  I  have  already  alluded.  The  real  governmg 
bodies  of  the  institution  were  the  two  Literary  Societies.  They 
were  not  only  arenas  for  debate  and  oratory,  but  were  the 
discipline-enforcers  of  the  University,  and  the  fear  of  incurring 
their  censure  was  far  greater  than  that  of  offending  the  Faculty. 
There  was  in  the  village  a  refined  and  cultured  society,  which 
afforded  opportunities  for  the  practice  of  the  amenities  of  social 
life,  without  the  least  display  or  affectation  of  *'  style ;  "  and, 
although  there  was  not,  as  now,  a  gynasium,  there  was  an 
unlimited  field  for  athletic  sports.  Some  students,  sons  of  rich 
Southern  planters,  brought  servants,  and  horses,  and  guns,  and 
dogs,  and  kept  house  (club  style),  and  spent  their  holidays — and, 
perhaps,  some  days  that  were  not  holidays — in  field  sports. 

At  commencement  the  belles  and  rose-bud  debutantes  flocked 
from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  there  was  a  carnival  in  which 
flashed  gay  equipages,  and  gorgeous  sashes,  and  fine  raiment, 
(including  tight  boots  and  other  agonies) ;  and  tender  speeches 
were  made,  both  on  the  rostrum  and  in  private  ears ;  and  there 
was  much  dancing  (of  the  pigeon-wing  order  and   performed 


14 

with  a  gravity  that  "was  almost  severe)  and  some  farewell  wine- 
bibbing — after  which,  until  the  beginning  of  another  session, 
Chapel  Hill  wore  the  air  of  a  deserted  village. 

With  every  year  the  numbers  grew,  and  each  commencement 
surpassed  its  predecessor  in  display  and  enjoyment.  Before 
1850,  there  being  no  building  suitable  for  the  purpose,  the 
dining-ropm  of  the  old  hotel  was  used  for  a  ball-room,  and  for 
years  its  walls  rang  with  the  sound  of  the  fast  and  furious  fiddles 
of  Frank  Johnson's  band,  and  its  floor  swayed  and  trembled 
beneath  the  springy  tread  of  a  hundred  dancers.  After  that  date 
a  great  improvement  in  the  music,  and  a  more  elegant  style  pre" 
vailed,  and  Smith  Hall,  the  present  library — which  was,  perhaps, 
unequalled  in  the  State  for  such  a  purpose — was  used. 

It  has  been  my  fortune  to  see  many  great  and  distinguished 
men,  but  none  were  clothed  with  such  radiancy  of  glory  as 
seemed  to  my  eyes  to  invest  the  marshals  and  ball  managers  of 
that  period.  The  President  and  Professors  appeared  absolutely 
inconsequential  beside  them  Their  glory  lasted  only  for  a 
week,  but  all  human  glory  is  short-lived,  and  no  warrior  or 
statesman  ever  enjoyed  his  brief-hour  more  keenly  than  they. 

In  the  year  1859  the  University  was  in  splendid  condition,  and 
was  in  receipt  of  an  income  largely  exceeding  its  expenses,  but 
with  the  next  year  fell  the  shadow  of  those  coming  events  which 
brought  desolation  and  ruin  to  it,  and  the  South.  At  the  first 
call  to  arms  it  was  almost  deserted.  As  I  have  already  said, 
seven  of  the  faculty  and  nearly  all  the  students  entered  the  Con- 
federate army. 

Governor  Swain  tried  to  keep  the  handful  of  boys  who  were 
left,  and  his  appeal  to  President  Davis  in  the  early  part  of  the 
war,  secured  from  him  the  promise  that  "  the  seed  corn  should 
not  be  ground  up ; "  but.  to  quote  the  language  of  Senator 
Vance,  "  as  the  exigencies  of  the  country  increased  this  wisdom 
was  lost  sight  of,  the  collegians  were  again  and  again  called 
upon,  till  at  the  time  of  Lee's  surrender  there  were  but  about  a 
dozen  here  still  keeping  up  the  name  and  forms  of  a  college. 
But  even  while  the  village  and  the  University  were  occupied  by 


15 

4,000  Michigan  cavalry,  the  old  bell   was  rung  daily,  prayers 
were  held,  and  the  University  was  kept  going." 

"  The  terrible  blow  to  higher  education  by  the  disastrous  strug- 
gle," says  Dr.  Battle,  "  may  be  gathered  from  the  simple  fact  that 
out  of  the  95  Freshmen  who  matriculated  in  1857-58  only  10,  out 
of  the  80  Freshmen  of  1858-59  only  i,  and  out  of  the  68  Fresh- 
men of  1859-60  only  5  remained  to  receive  their  diplomas  at 
graduation  Taking  the  three  classes  together,  227  out  of  243 
lost  their  opportunity  of  higher  education  ;  nearly  all  of  them 
enlisting  in  the  army."  Yes,  they  lost  their  opportunity  of 
higher  education  from  hooks,  but  they  entered  the  school  of 
patriotism,  and  learned  the  bitter  lesson  that  the  purest  and 
noblest  sacrifices  made  for  liberty  are  often,  to  human  ken,  in 
vain,  and  that  in  human  government  prevails 

—  "the  simple  plan 
That  he  may  take  who  hath  the  power 
And  he  may  keep  who  can." 

They  learned,  at  the  cost  of  wounds  and  death,  that  sacred 
compacts  are  rags,  and  plighted  faith  a  laughing-stock,  in  the 
eyes  of  greed  and  power — that  in  civil  wars  success  makes 
patriots,  the  want  of  it,  rebels  and  traitors — and  that  in  national 
ethics  might  makes  right ;  but  they  also  proved  that  "  duty  is 
the  sublimest  word  in  our  language,"  and  that  "  human  virtue" 
not  only  "  should  be,"  but  is,  "  equal  to  human  calamity."  Bap- 
tized in  the  same  fire  were  a  thousand  of  their  predecessors  in 
these  classic  groves.  I  look  around  me  here,  and  see  inscribed 
upon  these  tablets  the  names  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  of  the 
Alumni  of  this  University  who  gave  their  lives,  a  willing  sacri- 
fice, in  defence  of  constitutional  liberty. 

Shades  of  my  brave  and  noble  comrades  who,  with  your  great 
commanders,  now  walk  in  green  pastures  beside  the  still  waters  ! 
ye,  who,  frosted  by  the  years,  or  in  the  full  flush  of  manhood,  or 
in  the  rosy  freshness  of  youth,  went  forth  to  battle  for  home  and 
liberty,  and  returned  no  more !  ye  still  live,  not  only  in  the 
realms  ye  now  inhabit,  but  here  in  the  heart  of  your  Alma  Mater. 
She  too  died  as  you  did  with  the  State,  in  the  common  massacre 
of  Southern  rights  and  liberties,  but  rose  again  with  her  to  new 


16 

life  and  energy,  still  clasping  to  her  breast  the  record  of  the 
proud  achievements  of  her  sons.  There,  with  a  mother's  grasp, 
will  she  hold  them,  until  her  groves  are  silent  and  her  walls 
crumble  into  dust. 

I  will  not  pain  this  audience  by  a  recital  of  the  experiences  of 
the  University  during  the  night-mare  that  succeeded  the  war- 
It  was  but  a  page  in  that  chapter  of  our  history  from  which 
every  self-respecting  American  citizen  turns  away  with  shame 
and  indignation.  I  would  rather  rejoice  with  you  in  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  people  of  North  Carolina— proud  of  her  noble 
history  and  prizing  her  as  a  precious  heritage  left  to  them  and 
their  children — with  the  first  breath  of  their  new  life,  resolved 
that  she,  too,  should  live  again,  and  with  renewed  energies  and 
added  glories  should  resume  her  ancient  service  to  God  and  man. 

That  she  has  done  so,  and  how  she  has  done  so,  you  will  hear 
to-day  from  one  of  her  gifted  posihelJum  alumni  to  whom  has 
been  entrusted  that  grateful  task,  and  to  give  place  to  whose 
glowing  picture  of  the  new  regime  I  now  gladly  withdraw  my 
homely  sketch  of  the  old. 

Fellow  students  of  the  old  days  ;  nineteen  years  ago,  at  the  first 
commencement  after  the  reopening,  being  honored  with  a  similar 
duty  to  that  assigned  me  to  day,  I  made  the  most  earnest  appeal 
of  my  life  for  the  restoration  of  the  University  to  the  full  measure 
of  her  ancient  prosperity  and  renown.  The  prayers  and  labors 
of  her  faithful  sons  were  answered  and  blessed,  and,  on  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  her  existence,  we  assemble  with  grate- 
ful hearts  to  offer  unto  'her  the  homage  of  our  undying 
love,  to  receive  her  benediction,  and  to  rejoice  in  the  hope  that 
she  will  be  the  nursing  mother  of  our  latest  posterity.  She  has 
not  only  recovered  her  youth  and  vigor,  but  has  decked  herself 
in  richer  apparel  and  lives  in  finer  houses  than  she  did  in  the 
olden  days;  and,  therefore,  naturally  carries  her  head  a  little 
higher,  and  assumes  more  airs.  But  we  love  her,  if  possible,  all 
the  more  for  it,  and  our  aspirations  for  her  will  only  be  satisfied 
when  she  is  recognized  and  saluted  as  the  queen  of  Southern 
Universities. 


d 


17 

Many  of  you,  probably,  have  never  revisited  these  scenes  since 
you  left  them  in  your  youth.  Some  of  you,  I  know,  have  not 
been  here  in  forty,  a  few  not  in  fifty  years,  or  more.  What 
language  could  express  your  emotions  when  the  old  campus, 
and  the  gray  buildings  again  greeted  your  vision? 

What  a  flood  of  memories  broke  over  you,  and  what  music 
they  made  within  you  ! 

And,  after  looking  again  upon  all  the  old  familiar  places,  and 
recalling  the  early  friends  with  whom  they  were  once  associated, 
how  does  the  life  to  which  you  then  so  eagerly  looked  forward 
now  appear  in  your  sight?  How  many  of  your  hopes,  and 
aspirations  have  been  realized  ?  If  only  a  few  or  none,  do  you 
feel  that  there  is  really,  after  all,  any  very  great  difference  in  the 
outcome  between  your  own,  and  what  the  world  calls  the  most 
successful  lives  ?  If  all,  and  more  than  you  hoped  for,  has  been 
bestowed  upon  you,  is  there  not 

—  "something  still  which  prompts  the  eternal  sigh?" 

And,  if  so,  has  not  your  experience  taught  you  that  that  some- 
thing is  not  to  be  found  in  this  world  ?  I  would  not  trespass 
upon  a  province  which  is  not  mine,  but  surely  it  is  permissible, 
even  for  a  layman  so  far  advanced  upon  life's  journey,  when 
addressing  his  contemporaries  on  an  occasion  like  this,  to  remind 
them  that  there  is  but  one  Kindly  Light  to  lead  us  in  the  night 
which  fast  approaches,  and  to  express  the  hope  that  each  of  them, 
when  lookmg  back  upon  his  life,  and  recalling  the  vanished 
forms  that  peopled  it,  will  turn,  worshipping,  to  that  Light,  and 
say : 

' '  So  long  Thy  power  hath  blessed  me,  sure  it  still 
Will  lead  me  ou 
O'er  moor  and  fen,  o'er  crag  and  torrent,  till 

The  night  is  gone 
And  with  the  morn  those  angel  faces  smile 
That  I  have  loved  long  since,  and  lost  awhile." 


I 


